E-C Translation Of Cosmetics Brochures:from The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Along with the rapid growth of economic cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and other countries,a large number of foreign commodities have flooded into Chinese market.In addition to the product quality,brand effect and product promotion strategies,cosmetics brochures also exert an important impact on cosmetics marketing for they provide the consumers with essential products information.Appropriate adaptation strategies should be adopted in the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures for the translation is a cross-cultural communicative activity.Successful cosmetics brochures translation conveys the commodity information accurately and stimulates its consumption to a certain extent via linguistic,cultural and psychological adaptation in the process of translation.This paper discusses the English-Chinese translation of cosmetics brochures from the perspective of Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory.This paper first discusses the linguistic differences between English and Chinese.Then it analyzes cultural and psychological differences between Chinese and the Westerners from the extra-linguistic.Finally,with reference to the function and characteristics of the cosmetics brochures,it explores the principles and the specific strategies for the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures.This paper mainly conducts a qualitative research via adopting a large number of practical cases of cosmetics brochures translation.The results of this paper are as follows: Firstly,the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures should follow linguistic adaptation.Chinese language vocabulary is comparatively abundant with its unique four-character phrases whereas English language tends to be more concise.Therefore,the translators can adopt the translation strategy of adding four-character phrases.Secondly,the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures should follow cultural adaptation.This cultural adaptation can be witnessed in the cultural disparities in infringement and preference for natural materials.Due to the influence of traditional Chinese medicine,Chinese people prefer natural materials.In addition,there is a great difference in infringement concepts between Chinese and Westerns and English cosmetics brochures often elaborate on something that are deemed to be very “common sense” to the Chinese in their product instructions to avoid infringement responsibilities.In the process of translation,we can adopt the strategies of cultural conciliation and cultural circumvention,to adjust to the target culture and avoid taboos.Finally,the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures should follow psychological adaptation.In the translation of cosmetics brochures,we shall utilize elegant words to transmit aesthetic beauties.Moreover,Chinese culture seems to worship the light-complexion while westerners value tan skin,so in the translation the whitening effect of commodities shall be emphasized with iterative method.Generally speaking,Adaptation Theory provides an effective theoretical framework for the E-C translation of cosmetics brochures.It can enlighten the translators to select appropriate translation principles and strategies in accordance with the linguistic,cultural and psychological differences between the languages.